More State-Duke

I thought we’d throw just a little more of a conclusion on what a large majority of State fans are calling the program’s biggest win since Jim Valvano roamed the sidelines in Raleigh. I hope that you’ve reviewed our entire front page of the blog and checked in on everything. If you haven’t been participating in our message forums, then today is a fantastic day to jump in a get a whole bunch of news and commentary that we don’t have the time/ability to put on the main blog.

NC State (14-2) is on a 10-game winning streak and has 3-0 record in the ACC for the first time since the 1988-89 season. State won the mythical ‘regular season ACC title’ that year before imploding in perhaps the worst defeat in ACC Tournament history by losing to last seeded Maryland in the conference tournament’s first round.

This is ‘interesting’ how the N&O’s headline reads, “Matchups favored N.C. State in win over Duke” just a day after the paper ran an article proclaiming that Duke held the advantage in most of the individual match-ups at each position. Hilarious.

Scroll down in this thread to see how these ‘famous’ Wolfpack fans have now gone national in both football AND basketball season this year! Â You really have to give them credit.

Mark Gottfried is the 14th coach to defeat the Associated Press No.â€‰1 teams at two schools. While at Alabama, he upset No.â€‰1 Stanford, 76-67, in the 2004 NCAA tournament. Before Saturday, the Wolfpack hadnâ€™t beaten a No.â€‰1-ranked team since Feb. 15, 2004. That also was a home win against Duke, 78-74.

The big game in PNC Arena drew several notable attendees with N.C. State connections: American Idol winner and current student Scotty McCeery, Buffalo Bills defensive end Mario Williams and Robert Gibbs, the former press secretary for President Barack Obama.

I’ll leave you with this video that ran on the PNC scoreboard prior to player introductions on Saturday. I have always loved the ‘boys from the South’ aspect of this song; especially when you juxtapose it with playing the boys from New Jersey on Saturday.

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For me, this game – the way we won – cemented in my mind the idea that we are finally back, and I’m not afraid to say it. After 2 decades in the wilderness, we finally have a PROGRAM that can compete with anyone. Recruiting looks steady, coaching seems competent, and we play an offense that’s both effective and beautiful to watch.

It seemed to me that post-V, we could win one of these games every once in a while when one player would go off, or we were running a style that our opponent couldn’t figure out. It always felt like a fluke when we won. This was a heavyweight battle between two very good teams, and we were better that day. I can’t remember when I could last say that about a game that involved the Pack.

Sure, we still have 15 league games left, and plenty of work to do – lots can go wrong between now and March. But it’s time to quit expecting the worst NC State ish to happen and enjoy the ride.

Those teams where we had, like with 4 three point shooters on the floor at a time, we interesting to watch, but an off-night doomed us because of the imbalance..

I knew that once we had Leslie, Harrow (best of luck), and Brown coming in, given that we had players like Howell and Wood, that it would a matter of time before we made some real noise–that time has come.

We are inching very close to the level of play of March of last year, and I think our ceiling is higher given the things we need to and will work on to get better.

As for recruiting, what could you not like? Every recruit leaves a trip saying it feels like a family.

Glad we beat the dookies, but time to take care of business. aka Maryland.
As an Alabama wolfpacker, I hear alot from Bama fans about Gott. 99% are very happy for his sucess at NCSU. Now pull a Nick Saben. Just an hour after the victory over Notre Dame for the NCAA title he was already looking at next year.
Message: Get over Duke – Get ready for Maryland.